Ubiquiti Network Upgrade

[gte619n]

Hey guys,

I was hoping someone could help me assess my SMB network that I have at my office. The office itself is long and skinny, about 70' long, 25' wide. The server cabinet is at one end of the structure and there is a cable run to the opposite side.

Currently, I have a mix of routers, APs and modems. There are certain spots that have very poor networking performance in the middle, with solid performance at the ends.

I'm wondering if I need to bit the bullet and upgrade to the new Ubiquit stuff or if I have a poorly configured AP setup. The APs are all on the same SSID/Password and the devices indicate strong wifi signal, but the performance is not great.

How can I troubleshoot the issue here? Any tips would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

E

 

[razel]

Throwing money into fixing issues without identifying the exact issue is an endless pit of threads found with home networking. That's not the fault of home users, it's the fault of how complex it is and was never simplified for home usage. In your case, sounds like you have the skills to identify.

Is it an issue with wireless or wired SMB access?

 

[gte619n]

@razel, exactly, thank for the vote of confidence.

The wired devices are crushing it, it's the wireless devices, especially when moving from one end to the other, that really get bad quality. Almost like the other AP doesn't pick them up.

 

[sdifox]

If you want seamless handoff you have to go to ubiquiti level stuff with controller

 

[gte619n]

@sdifox, could you give me a little more information about how that would work?

 

[sdifox]

@sdifox, could you give me a little more information about how that would work?

You run unifi controller on a VM and it controls all your unifi APs and handles the transition from one AP to the next. Ubiquiti recommends Fast Roaming now instead of zero handoff.

 

[gte619n]

@sdifox, very interesting. Do you happen to have any links to the documentation for that system? I'm very interested.

 

[sdifox]

@sdifox, very interesting. Do you happen to have any links to the documentation for that system? I'm very interested.

I googled

https://help.ubnt.com/hc/en-us/articles/115004662107-UniFi-Fast-Roaming

 

[ch33zw1z]

Couple ubnt WAP's and controller running on a always up box or vm, your wireless will be ok. Even then the investment is under 500

 

[gte619n]

Thanks for all the tips. I just pulled the trigger on a matching Ap-AC Lite, which supports the fast roaming.

Reading the documentation, it doesn't mention a specific controller requirement, only that they're always on. Is the preferred controller their Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway (USG) or should it really be a VM?

 

[sdifox]

Thanks for all the tips. I just pulled the trigger on a matching Ap-AC Lite, which supports the fast roaming.

Reading the documentation, it doesn't mention a specific controller requirement, only that they're always on. Is the preferred controller their Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway (USG) or should it really be a VM?

The controller is software that you run on a machine or in a vm.

 

[sdifox]

There is also this as a controller


https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-cloud-key/

 

[gte619n]

Just finished installing the Cloud Key, Security Device, 16 port PoE switch and a pair of APs. Everything works fantastically. Only configuration necessary was turning on the 24v passive PoE, as the AP Lites don't use the new protocol.

Thanks for all the help!